No one was hurt according to one RCMP officer at the scene and when the fully deployed air bags were mentioned she stated, "Yup, just the way they are supposed to work."

It was after 3pm this afternoon at the corner of Park and Sparks, another difficult 'jogged' corner in Terrace.

Nothing much is straight forward here. Sparks and Lakelse; Monroe and Walsh; Sande Overpass; attempting to turn left (east) at Kalum and Greig; the Eby Lakelse intersection; the foolish stop sign arrangement at Kenney and Keith (causing numerous accidents).

Ah, just another day in hobbitville, a land ruled by people not with hair on their feet but likely on the other extremity.

It appears as if the City forefathers/mothers looked up at the benches that form the terrace's of Terrace and thought, yes, letís turn that sideways and make the streets terrace too!

And then they must have looked at the way every other city across North America designed their intersections with stop lights and stop signs and decided to reverse the way everyone else does it, just to make it more interesting to drive here.

The malls are hell bent on being stupid. At the Safeway Mall they designed barriers to rip out undercarriages and ensure a larger vehicle has to back up at least once to make a corner. The City then allowed Safeway to re-construct oversized pillars so no one has a place to walk along the front of the store and those who come out of the store risk their lives as they suddenly appear in front of drivers. There isn't a handicapped friendly part of this arrangement except to add to the list of those soon to be.

The Skeena Mall entrances and exits are so sparse drivers attempt to drive in the exit next to Workwear World and out of towners do not understand why they get looked at funny. And then you are told you cannot turn left when you exit so one has to face the dreaded Sparks Lakelse intersection. All the good exits and entrances are blockaded like the Frank Street Rail crossing, one wonders why, the approaches are still available to use?

The lights at the Post Office are just redundant and the lights at Lakelse and Sparks are useless.

And donít forget the desire to feel like a big City with a Ďdo not turn here between the hours of 7am and 6pm at Emerson and Lakelse. The rusty piece of crap sign has been there since the 1980ís before the highway was moved onto Keith Avenue with the new bridges. But the cops will still stop you and give a ticket for this idiot law.

Really, really cheap changes could make a world of difference.

Eby at City Hall should be a thoroughfare as there is already a stop sign at Lazelle. The only stop sign should be on Lakelse, where all the out of towners already stop. Even the cops donít stop at the signs on Eby.

A light should be installed at Sparks and Lazelle and the lights on Lakelse and Sparks removed entirely leaving only right turn options available from either side of the intersection.

In fact the entire street, Lakelse, should only be two lanes with diagonal parking. It is far too narrow for four lanes of traffic anyways. It is now just more accidents waiting to happen.

The four way stop needs to be reinstalled at the Post Office (move the lights to Sparks) and the "No Left Turn Allowed" sign at Lakelse and Emerson ripped down.

As for Kenney Street and Keith Avenue Ė What gives here? Is it straight through (no stops) going north south because the City Works Yard is at the end of Kenney and the city workers designed it for their own personal benefit? Yes, maybe, that is where the planning department is after all.

And further, we are told the merge lane driving west on Keith, turning north towards the tracks and the highway on Kenney, has a stop sign as they ran out of yield signs! But maybe in all reality it is because City workers going home after work want a clean getaway for the Horseshoe and the bench. Not much else makes sense in this hamlet. What gives with this stop sign as every region on the planet treats such a clean turn as a yield?

And as for pedestrians we need a pedestrian crossing at Copperside and George Little Park towards the Arena, where everyone crosses now. We do not need more deaths and accidents at the Willows crossing where drivers cannot see for the trees and other obstructions. Cripes, why would someone at the park, wanting to go up to the Arena, walk around the Library or up to the Willows crossing?

And then there is the accident today at Park and Sparks.

The poor Joe's were just attempting to negotiate a ridiculous City.

Probably one was attempting to avoid Lakelse and Lazelle, scooting down Park. The car, finally making it through the lights at the idiot BMO, Bear Country, Safeway intersection kicked it up a knotch after waiting five minutes. The guy in the PU likely had looked left and right so many times his neck was sore. People coming out of Park, first turning right then an immediate left in front of him, then more cars coming from Clarence Michiel, then some more cars coming up from the four way at Lazelle. Back to the Park Avenue traffic doing their maneuvers. Sometimes one needs a visit to Dr Greenwood or Lutz after that exercise.

But then who am I? I didnít go to school and become edumacated to be the ruler of any tiny hamlet. We must adhere to the unquestionable authority of those administrators who administrate nothing but the security of their wages and benefits all the while misleading the City Councillors who accept the agenda packages as if they were prepared with the citizens best interests at heart.

AIR BAGS WORKING JUST THE WAY THEY ARE DESIGNED

Comment by Me on 12th June 2013Since the job boom....then came all the dumb drivers...boy the new comers I cannot believe how stupid they drive. Then you add the dumb pedestrian's in the mix with the crazy traffic and all the road construction into the mix and you have chaos. I hate driving around here because the roads are not wide enough to have bike lanes, side walks and parking too - Lakelse Ave. The Sparks and Lakelse lights are very poorly set up and same with Kalum/Lakelse. This town is not set up for traffic at all. This town is set up to be a small town and needs to re-configure the lights, parking and pedestrians. Also there are soo many clueless drivers that do not stop at the line on the old bridge going into Thornhill/Queensway. The sign says to stop at the line...and people are still not smart enough to do that...then you should not drive!!! The only way to make the light go green is to stop on the line. These are simple things and people still don't catch on. I'm just going to bang my head on the wall.

Ask if Merv despises the administrative staff of Terrace

Comment by Merv Ritchie on 11th June 2013Naw, just guess or imagine how Brad or the rest feel about being critiqued for incompetence. The Peter Principle to perfection!